How to Treat Scale on Eastern Redbud Tree

Eastern redbud trees grow 20 to 30 feet tall with light to dark pink flowers blooming in the spring. The tree is particularly susceptible to the scale pest. Adult scales appear as little bumps on the tree, often seeming as they are part of the tree's growth. They suck the sap from the tree, restricting nutrients to the leaves and causing them to turn yellow and drop before the turn of the season. Treating scale is not difficult as long as you have the correct knowledge of what tools to use and when to use them.

Things You'll Need

• Magnifying glass
• Horticultural oil

Instructions

1. Identify the scale bugs on the plant and rule out any other disease that could be causing the tree to fail. They usually appear on new wood and sometimes on foliage. They look like little oblong waxy bumps with no legs and they do not move as adults.

2. Look for the hatched scale bugs in late spring. Examine the underneath of leaves or around white cottony egg sacs with a magnifying glass for the nearly microscopic amber bugs that look like spider mites.

3. Water the redbud before spraying. Spray a horticultural oil covering both adult scale and the young scale that have just hatched. This will literally smother them. Spray the oil in the morning on a cloudy, dry day when temperatures are below 100 degrees F.

References

• Tree Help: Redbud Trees
• University of Florida IFAS Extension: Eastern Redbud
• Washington State University Spokane County Extension: Horticultural Oil Sprays